Above Surface Interaction for Multiscale Navigation in Mobile Virtual Reality

Abstract

Virtual Reality enables the exploration of large information spaces. In physically constrained spaces such as airplanes or buses, controller-based or mid-air interaction in mobile Virtual Reality can be challenging. Instead, the input space on and above touchscreen enabled devices such as smartphones or tablets could be employed for Virtual Reality interaction in those spaces. In this context, we compared an above surface interaction technique with traditional 2D on-surface input for navigating large planar information spaces such as maps in a controlled user study (n = 20). We find that our proposed above surface interaction technique results in significantly better performance and user preference compared to pinch-to-zoom and drag-to-pan when navigating planar information spaces.

Media

Teaser Video

Conference Talk Video

Publication

Tim Mezner, Travis Gesslein, Alexander Otte & Jens Grubert. Above Surface Interaction for Multiscale Navigation in Mobile Virtual Reality. In Proceedings of IEEE Virtual Reality (VR) 2020, pp. 372-381.
arxiv version | teaser video | conference talk video